Non-woven textile products and the method of fabricating the same



H. w. COATES' ETAL 3,312,224 NON-WOVEN TEXTILE PRODUCTS AND THE METHOD OF FABRICATING THE SAME Filed March 15, 1965 April 4, 1967 INVENTORSI HERBERT W. COATE-S 8 $0551) 1 BAmAsJ. 1 MLON J1 HAMlLTONand JOHN T HAYNE$,ITE.

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ATTORNEY-S United States Patent Office 3,312,224 Patented Apr. 4, 1967 This application relates to non-Woven textile products and the method of fabricating same and more particularly to non-woven brassiere cups and the method of fabricating same.

Non-Woven fabrics of the type utilizing fibers coated with adhesive or binder to form a self-supporting porous batt have found wide utility in domestic, manufacturing and industrial operations, such as clothing articles or interlinings, floor maintenance, kitchen scouring, air or gas filters, packaging materials, etc. These non-Woven fabrics are generally constructed of a plurality of fibers, either straight or curled, of various lengths, held in threedimensional arrangement by means of an adhesive or resinous binder. The fibers are generally substantially coated with this binder and are joined together at the points where the fibers cross and intersect by the resinous binder or adhesive to form an open, low density, nonwoven batt.

These open, non-woven batts are often fabricated into the desired products by the manufacturers thereof or are sold in rolls to other manufacturers for subsequent fabrication into the desired products. These final products are usually fabricated by cutting the non-Woven fabric into predetermined component parts of the product and then securing the component parts together, such as by sewing or gluing to form the desired product.

Due to the bulky nature of these highly porous nonwoven fabrics or batts, fabrication has long been a problem with the manufacturer of non-Woven products. The bulky nature of the non-woven fabrics has rendered it extremely difficult to satisfactorily cut the component parts from the non-Woven fabrics. This is especially true wherein the normal cutting operations of other textile fabrics are accomplished by stacking a multiplicity of layers of the textile fabrics on each other and subsequently dye or pattern cutting a multiplicity of component parts from these stacks. The bulky nature of the non-woven fabrics limited the number of layers which could be stacked on each other for this type of cutting operation.

Also, in the securing of the component parts to form the desired product, such as by sewing, it has heretofore required the use of special machines for securing the thick and bulky component parts to each other when compared to the ordinary machines used to secure other component parts made from other textile fabrics.

One of the textile products, which has been extremely difiicult to manufacture from non-woven fabrics of the type discussed above due to these problems, is a brassiere cup. It is desirable in the manufacture of brassiere cups to have one portion thereof thicker than the remaining portion thereof to be placed under the breast of a wearer to provide support therefor when worn. In order to construct a brassiere cup having a thickened portion therein from a non-woven fabric, it was necessary to cut at least three component parts and superimpose two of the component parts on each other followed by securing of all the component parts together to form a cup shaped product.

In fabricating brassiere cups in this manner, it was very difficult to cut a multiplicity of component parts from a stack of non-woven fabrics due to the thickness and bulkiness of the non-Woven fabrics. It was also very difficult to secure or sew these component parts together to form the cup shaped product, due to the bulky nature of the non-woven fabrics resulting in the necessary use of special machines. Following the securing of the component parts together to form the brassiere cup, it was necessary to mold the thus formed brassiere cup to eliminate a ridgepole effect formed at the lines of stitching or where the component parts were secured together. This molding operation was a necessarily expensive manufacturing step, but could not heretofore be eliminated in obtaining a desirable brassiere cup constructed from non-woven fabrics.

Brassiere cups have heretofore been manufactured from non-woven fabrics by simply molding a single layer of a non-woven fabric into a cup shaped product. However, this type of brassiere cup is not as desirable wherein a supporting portion is needed within the brassiere cup, inasmuch as a molded brassiere cup will not provide a portion thereof having a greater thickness than the remaining portion thereof.

It is therefore an object of this invention to overcome the problems of fabrication of non-woven textile products.

It is a more specific object of this invention to provide non-woven textile products and a method of fabricating same which will eliminate the problems encountered in cutting and securing component parts of non-Woven textile products.

It is a further specific object of this invention to provide a non-Woven brassiere cup and a method of fabricating same which will eliminate the problems heretofore encountered in manufacturing this product.

It has been found by this invention that the above objects may be accomplished by providing a process whereby the non-woven fabrics may be compacted during or following manufacture thereof to reduce their dimensions or bulk to allow the performance of the specific fabricating steps while the non-Woven products are in this compacted state and whereby the compacted non-Woven products may be subsequently restored to substantially the original bulk or dimensions of the non-woven fabrics following fabrication into the desired products so that the products will mold themselves into a predetermined shape which is desired in the finished product. In the manufacture of the brassiere cups, this method is particularly desirable inasmuch as the restoring step will allow the brassiere cups to mold themselves into the desired cup shape and thus eliminate the additional step heretofore required, of

molding the product following fabrication. This method will also eliminate the use of special equipment for cutting and securing the component parts of the product together inasmuch as the non-Woven fabric will be compacted to a substantially less bulky thickness during the fabrication of the products.

Reference may be had to our copending application, Ser. No. 408,339, filed Nov. 2, 1964, for a disclosure of the broad method of compacting and subsequently restoring a non-woven textile fabric. If is to be understood that the previously filed application relates to the broad principle of compaction and subsequent restoration of a non-Woven fabric; whereas, the present application is directed to non-woven textile products and the method of fabricating the same.

It will be further understood that while the detailed description of this application is directed to the fabrication of brassiere cups formed from non-woven fabrics, that this invention has broader application and may be utilized in the fabrication of any non-Woven textile product wherein component parts of the product must be cut from the non-Woven fabric and secured together to form the product.

Further features of this invention will be understood from a consideration of the following more detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a portion of an open, low density, self-sustaining non-woven textile fabric;

FIGURE 2 is a perspective view of the non-woven fabric of FIGURE 1 compacted to a less open, higher density, self-sustaining compacted state and which has been cut into a component part of a brassiere cup;

FIGURE 3 is a cross-sectional view of the non-woven fabric of FIGURE 1 taken substantially along the line 3-3 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 4 is a cross-sectional view of the compacted non-woven fabric of FIGURE 2 taken substantially along the line 44 of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 5 is a perspective view of a brassiere cup formed from the compacted component parts illustrated in FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 6 is a perspective view of the brassiere cup of FIGURE 5, which has been restored to the original open, low density state of the non-woven fabric shown in FIG- URE 1;

FIGURE 7 is a cross-sectional View of the compacted brassiere cup of FIGURE 5 taken substantially along the line 7-7 of FIGURE 5; and

FIGURE 8 is a cross-sectional view of the brassiere cup of FIGURE 6 which has been restored to the original state of the non-woven fabric taken substantially along the line 8-8 of FIGURE 6.

Referring now to the drawings, there is shown in FIGURE 1 a non-woven textile fabric, generally indicated by the reference numeral 10', which is formed from a plurality of thermoplastic fibers 11 disposed in intermingled, three dimensional arrangement throughout the length, width and depth of the fabric and bonded together at spaced points by a resinous bonding material to fixedly join the fibers together to form an integral non-woven fabric structure.

The fibers 11 used to form the non-woven fabric 10 may be any type of thermoplastic fibers and particularly fibers selected from the group consisting of polyester, nylon, acrylic, acetate, modacrylic, triacetate, polyropylene, polyethylene or combinations thereof. The bonding material utilized to bond these fibers together to form the non-woven fabric may be any type of resinous bonding material and particularly those bonding materials selected from the group consisting of acrylic, vinyl, melamine, polyvinyl chloride, polyvinyl acetate, butadiene styrene, butadiene acrylonitrile, melamine formaldehyde, urea formaldehyde, phenol formaldehyde, polyvinylidene chloride, epoxy type resins or combinations thereof.

As is more specifically set out in our above identified patent application, this non-woven fabric 10 may be compacted to a less open, higher density, self-sustaining compacted state, as shown in FIGURE 2. This compaction operation is performed by heating the non-woven textile fabric 10 to a temperature below the plastic fiow temperature of both the thermoplastic fibers 11 and the bonding material, applying pressure to the heated nonwoven fabric to compact the fabric to the less open, higher density, self-sustaining, compacted state and cooling the heated and compacted non-woven fabric so that the fabric will remain in the compacted state.

It is important that the temperature utilized for compaction of the non-woven fabric does not exceed the plastic flow point of the bonding material because if the temperature does exceed this plastic flow point, the bonding material will become sticky and will rebond at other fiber point-s permanently holding the compacted nonwoven fabric in the compacted state. It is also important that the temperature utilized for compaction does not exceed the plastic flow point of the fibers 11 because if the temperature does exceed this plastic flow point, a substantially permanent stress-strain relationship will be set up in the fibers and the fibers will be given a permanent 4 crimp which will permanently hold the non-woven fabric in the compacted state.

In the compaction step, the heating of the non-woven fabric may be performed in any suitable manner during manufacture or following manufacture, such as in an oven, with infrared heat or the like. The compacting may be performed by any convenient means, such as pres sure rolls, calender rolls or the like. Cooling the heated and compacted non-woven fabric may be performed by any suitable means, such as exposing the heated and compacted fabric to normal room temperature or by a special cooling apparatus.

It has been further found that the compaction is better accomplished on non-woven fabrics made from the above described fibers and bonded with the above described bonding materials when the heating is performed within the temperature range of F. to 450 F. for a period of time between less than one second and ten minutes. The preferred pressure for compacting the heated non-woven fabric is between 1.0 psi and 25.0 psi. for a period of time from less than one second to ten seconds.

When performing the compaction within these ranges of temperature, time and pressure, it has been found that the non-woven fabric will be compacted from about 99% to 4% of its original volume. It has also been found, that the network of interconnecting voids be tween the fibers in the compacted state of the fabric will comprise not more than about 74.3% of the volume of the non-woven fabric. 7

Following compaction of the non-woven fabric 10, the desired component parts of the non-woven product may be cut therefrom by utilizing any normal man= ufacturing cutting operation for textile fabrics. This cutting operation will be made much easier and will allow the use of conventional equipment inasmuch as the non-woven fabric in the compacted state is approximately 4% to 99% of its original volume or around 33 /s% of its original volume.

In the manufacture of a brassiere cup, shown in FIG- URES 5 and 6 and generally indicated by the reference numeral 12, a multiplicity of general elliptical shaped component parts 13, as shown in FIGURE 2, will be cut from the compacted non-woven fabric.

For constructing the specific brassiere cup 12, three of these component parts 13 will be utilized. Two of the component parts 13 are superimposed on each other and placed in juxtaposition to the third component part. The three component parts 13 are joined together at the juxtaposed edges, such as by inserting a line of stitching 14. The component parts 13 are then further secured together by inserting stitching 15 around the remaining cut edges thereof to form a generally cup shaped member. It is to be understood that this securing could be accomplished by means other than stiching, such as by heat setting the fibers along the cut edges of each of the component parts to each other or by bonding materials, etc. It is also noted, that the thus formed brassiere cup has a ridge-pole effect formed at the juncture of the juxtaposed edges of the component parts 13, generally indicated by the reference numeral 16. This ridge-pole effect is undesirable in the finished product because it fails to give a smooth surface configuration to thebrassiere cup.

Following securing of the component parts to form the non-woven product, the non-woven product may be restored to the original open, low density state of the nonwoven fabric by heating the textile product to a temperature below the plastic flow temperatures of both the thermoplastic fibers and the bonding material to allow the product to expand to the original open, low density state thereof and to mold itself into a predetermined desired shape. More specific details of this restoring operation may be had by reference to our above identified copending application. It is important that the heating during the restoring operation does not exceed the plastic flow temperatures of both the thermoplastic fibers and the bonding material for the reasons set forth above in connection with the compacting operation.

It has been found that the restoring of compacted nonwoven fabrics made from the above identified types of fibers bonded with the above identified types of bonding material is better performed by heating the compacted non-woven products to a temperature between 125 F. and 450 F. for a period of time between less than one second and ten minutes.

When performing the restoring operation within these ranges of temperature and time, it has been found that the non-woven textile products will be restored from about 1% to l700% of their compacted volume and that the network of intercommunicating voids between the fibers forming the non-woven product, when restored to the original dimensions of the non-woven fabric, will comprise not less than about 75 of the volume of the non-woven products.

When the compacted non-woven brassiere cup 12, shown in FIGURES 5 and 7, is restored to the original open, low density state of the non-woven fabric 10, as shown in FIGURES 6 and 8, the ridge-pole effect 15 will disappear and the brassiere cup will mold itself into a cup shaped product having a smooth surface configuration which is desirable in the finished brassiere cup. This restoring operation will eliminate any subsequent molding step in the fabrication process and thus save considerable time and expense in the manufacture of these brassiere cups. The resulting brassiere cup 12 will have a lower portion, as shown in FIGURE 8, comprised of a double thickness of material for the purpose of supporting the breast of a wearer.

Therefore, it may be seen that the non-woven textile products and the method of fabricating the same of this invention has eliminated the problems heretofore encountered in the fabrication of non-woven products, especially brassiere cups, and has eliminated costly and time consuming steps heretofore necessary in such fabricating operations.

The present invention has been described in detail above for purposes of illustration only and is not intended to be limited by this description or otherwise except as defined in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A method of fabricating a non-woven textile product comprising:

(a) supplying an open, low density, self-sustaining nonwoven textile fabric formed from thermoplastic fibers bonded together with a resinous bonding material;

(b) compacting the non-woven fabric to a less open, higher density, self-sustaining compacted state, said compacting step comprising (1) heating the non-woven textile fabric to a temperature below the plastic fiow temperatures of both the thermoplastic fibers and the bonding material,

(2) applying pressure to the heated non-woven fabric to compact the fabric to a less open, higher density, self-sustaining compacted state, and

(3) cooling the heated and compacted non-woven fabric so that the fabric will remain in the compacted state;

(c) cutting the non-woven fabric while in the compacted state into predetermined shaped component parts of the product;

(d) securing the component parts together while in the compacted state in a predetermined manner to form the product; and

(e) restoring the formed product to the original open,

low density state of the non-woven fabric by heating the formed product to a temperature below the plastic flow temperatures of both the thermoplastic fibers and the bonding material to allow the formed product to expand to the original open, low density state thereof to mold itself into a desired shape.

2. A method of fabricating a non-woven textile prodnot, as set forth in claim 1, in which said securing step comprises:

(1) sewing the component parts together while in the compacted state in a predetermined manner to form the product.

3. A non-woven textile product of the character described and produced according to the method of claim 1.

4. A method of fabricating a brassiere cup from a nonwoven textile fabric comprising:

(a) supplying an open, low density, self-sustaining nonwoven textile fabric formed from thermoplastic fibers bonded together with a resinous bonding material;

(b) compacting the non-woven fabric to a less open,

higher density, self-sustaining compacted state;

(c) cutting the non-woven fabric while in the compacted state into at least two elliptical shaped component parts;

(d) securing the elliptical shaped component parts together along their peripheries while in the compacted state to form a brassiere cup; and

(e) restoring the formed brassiere cup to the original open, low density state of the non-woven fabric so that the brassiere cup will mold itself into a predetermined shape.

5. A non-woven brassiere cup of the character described and produced according to the method of claim 4.

6. A method of fabricating a brassiere cup from a nonwoven textile fabric, as set forth in claim 4, in which said compacting step comprises:

(1) heating the non-woven textile fabric to a temperature below the plastic flow temperatures of both the thermoplastic fibers and the bonding materials;

(2) applying pressure to the heated non-woven fabric to compact the fabric to a less open, higher density, self-sustaining compacted state; and

(3) cooling the heated and compacted non-woven fabric so that the fabric will remain in the compacted state.

7. A method of fabricating a brassiere cup from a nonwoven textile fabric, as set forth in claim 4, in which said cutting step comprises cutting the non-woven fabric while in the compacted state into three component parts of generally elliptical shape; and in which the securing step comprises superimposing two of the component parts on each other, juxtaposing the third component part to the superimposed parts, and securing the parts together along the juxtaposed edges and around the remaining edges to form a brassiere cup having a portion thereof of double thickness.

8. A method of fabricating a brassiere cup from a nonwoven textile fabric, as set forth in claim 7, in which said securing step comprises sewing the component parts together.

9. A method of fabricating a brassiere cup from a nonwoven textile fabric, as set forth in claim 4, in which said restoring step comprises:

(1) heating the formed brassiere cup to a temperature below the plastic flow temperatures of both the thermoplastic fibers and the bonding material to allow the formed product to expand to the original open, low density state thereof, to mold itself into the predetermined shape.

10. A method of fabricating a brassiere cup from a non-woven textile fabric comprising:

(a) supplying an open, low density, self-sustaining nonwoven textile fabric formed from thermoplastic fibers bonded together with a resinous bonding material;

(b) compacting the non-woven fabric to a less open, higher density, self-sustaining compacted state, said compacting step comprising (1) heating the non-woven textile fabric to a tem- 7 perature below the plastic fioW temperatures of both the thermoplastic fibers and the bonding material,

(2) applying pressure to the heated non-Woven fabric to compact the fabric to a less open, higher density, self-sustaining compacted state, and

(3) cooling the heated and compacted non-woven fabric so that'the fabric will remain in the compacted state;

(c) cutting the non-woven fabric while in the compacted state into three, generally elliptical shaped, component parts;

((1) securing the component parts together while in the compacted state to form a brassiere cup, said securing step comprising (1) superimposing two of the component parts on each other,

(2) juxtaposing the third component part to the superimposed part and,

(3) securing the three component parts together along the juxtaposed edges and around the remaining edges; and

t3 0 (e) restoring the formed brassiere cup by heating the brassiere cup to a temperature below the plastic flow temperatures of both the thermoplastic fibers and the bonding material to allow the formed product to expand to the original open, low density state thereof and to mold the brassiere cup into a predetermined shape. 11. A non-Woven brassiere cup of the character described and produced according to the method of claim References (Jilted by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,286,817 6/1942 Knight 264324 X 2,462,940 3/1949 Bowes 264-324 2,574,849 11/1951 Falalay 161170 3,000,464 9/1961 Watters 161-190 3,017,304 1/1962 Burgeni 264324 3,181,536 5/1965 Cannata 128481 ADELE M. EAGER, Primary Examiner. 

10. A METHOD OF FABRICATING A BRASSIERE CUP FROM A NON-WOVEN TEXTILE FABRIC COMPRISING: (A) SUPPLYING AN OPEN, LOW DENSITY, SELF-SUSTAINING NONWOVEN TEXTILE FABRIC FORMED FROM THERMOPLASTIC FIBERS BONDED TOGETHER WITH A RESINOUS BONDING MATERIAL; (B) COMPACTING THE NON-WOVEN FABRIC TO A LESS OPEN, HIGHER DENSITY, SELF-SUSTAINING COMPACTED STATE, SAID COMPACTING STEP COMPRISING (1) HEATING THE NON-WOVEN TEXTILE FABRIC TO A TEMPERATURE BELOW THE PLASTIC FLOW TEMPERATURES OF BOTH THE THERMOPLASTIC FIBERS AND THE BONDING MATERIAL, (2) APPLYING PRESSURE TO THE HEATED NON-WOVEN FABRIC TO COMPACT THE FABRIC TO LESS OPEN, HIGHER DENSITY, SELF-SUSTAINING COMPACTED STATE, AND (3) COOLING THE HEATED AND COMPACTED NON-WOVEN FABRIC SO THAT THE FABRIC WILL REMAIN IN THE COMPACTED STATE; (C) CUTTING THE NON-WOVEN FABRIC WHILE IN THE COMPACTED STATE INTO THREE, GENERALLY ELLIPTICAL SHAPED, COMPONENT PARTS; (D) SECURING THE COMPONENT PARTS TOGETHER WHILE IN THE COMPACTED STATE TO FORM A BRASSIER CUP, SAID SECURING STEP COMPRISING (1) SUPERIMPOSING TWO OF THE COMPONENT PARTS ON EACH OTHER, (2) JUXTAPOSING THE THIRD COMPONENT PART TO THE SUPERIMPOSED PART AND, (3) SECURING THE THREE COMPONENT PARTS TOGETHER ALONG THE JUXTAPOSED EDGES AND AROUND THE REMAINING EDGES; AND (E) RESTORING THE FORMED BRASSIERE CUP BY HEATING THE BRASSIERE CUP TO A TEMPERATURE BELOW THE PLASTIC FLOW TEMPERATURES OF BOTH THE THERMOPLASTIC FIBERS AND THE BONDING MATERIAL TO ALLOW THE FORMED PRODUCT TO EXPAND TO THE ORIGINAL OPEN, LOW DENSITY STATE THEREOF AND TO MOLD THE BRASSIERE CUP INTO A PREDETERMINED SHAPE. 